9. Hitler moves to consolidate political power
In February 1933, the British ambassador in Berlin wrote to the Foreign Office that in his opinion, the Nazis had “come to stay”. Hitler himself reinforced this opinion, telling a British writer, “I tell you that the National Socialist movement will go on for 1,000 years,” giving birth to the myth of the thousand year Reich. On February 27, 1933, a fire damaged much of the Reichstag, destroying much of its main chamber, where the members met, and gutting the offices and other rooms of the building. Hitler and Goebbels arrived at the scene while the fire was still burning, with both immediately declaring that the fire was arson, attributed to the communists. Whether the Nazis had set the fire themselves, as has been proposed by some historians, remains unknown, but Hitler immediately turned the fire to his political advantage.
Under German law, the Reichstag was allowed to pass a measure known as an Enabling Act, granting temporary authority to the Chancellor and the President to enact laws exclusive of the democratic process, as a form of martial law during a national emergency. Hitler and the Nazis argued that Germany was on the verge of civil war with the communists, and Hitler used the fire and the propaganda value accusing the communists of setting it to persuade Hindenburg to enact such a law suspending civil liberties. Following Hindenburg’s acquiescence, communists were banned from the Reichstag and mass arrests of those suspected of being communists began throughout Germany. With the communists deposed from the Reichstag the Nazis went from being a plurality to a majority, and as head of the Nazi party Hitler became the de facto dictator of Germany.